Dump controlling mechanism for trucks



M s. L. Lowe.

DUMP CONTROLLING MECHANISM FOR TRUCKS.

APPLICATION FILED MAR.2 1917.

1,306,349. Patented'June 10,1919.

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S. L. LONG. DUMP CONTROLLING MECHANISM FOR TRUCKS.

. APPLICATION HLED MAR. 2.19M. 1,306,349.

Patented June 10, 1919.

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I I APPLICATION FILED MAR. 2,1911. 1,306,349.

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Specification of Letters Patent.

7 Application filed March 2, 1917. Serial N 0. 151,941.

{To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, SIDNEY L. Lone, a citizen of the United States,residing at Minneapolis, in the county of Hennepin and State ofMinnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in- Dump-Controlling Mechanism for Trucks; and I do hereby declare the followingto be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such aswill enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make anduse the same.

My invention has for its object to prov de an lmproved dump controllingmechanism for trucks and is especially designed for effecting theopening and closing move- Inents of the drop bottoms or doors of dirt orgravel trucks. In the drawings, theinvention is shown as applied to thedrop. bottoms of a self-trailing truck of the type disclosed and claimedin Letters Patent ofthe United States, No. 1,202,651, granted of dateOctober 2tth, 1916, to Adolph .W. Benson.

By this improved so-called dump controlling mechanism, the hinged dropbottom which is preferably made up ofa pair of leaf-like plates, may beraised with a ratchet-like action into closed positions, and therelocked and held. The said drop bottom or leaves may be released andpermitted to fall immediately into extreme open positions, or they maybe lowered, step by step,

. With a ratchet-like action and locked or held in position, open to anydesired extent,

In the accompanying drawings whlch illustrate the invention, likecharacters indicate like parts throughout the several views. p p

Referring to the drawings: H I Figure 1 is a side elevation showing myinvention in its preferred form applied to a cart of the character abovestated; Fig. 2 is a. transverse vertical section taken on the line 22 ofFig. 1;

Fig. 3 shows the dump controlling mechanismin side elevation, the partsof the cart being sectioned on the line 3 3 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 51 is a section taken on the llne 4-4 .of Fig. 5 and correspondingsomewhat to Fig. 3, but illustrating different positions of certain ofthe parts; A I,

Fig. 5 is a horizontal section on the line 5-1 5 of Fig. 1, some partsbeing broken away; 1

shown, it comprises a framework front ends of these cables 18 the'shank'of the head 24 Fig. 6 is a fragmentary view of the mechanismshown in Fig. 4, but with some parts broken away;

Fig. 7 is a view corresponding to Fig. 6, but illustrating differentpositions of the parts; and

Fig. 8 is a transverse section taken approximately on the line 88 ofFig. 6, some parts being broken away."

The truck may take various forms, but as 9, rear axle 10, rear wheels11, centrally located front wheel 12, and a front wheel bracket 13, towhich said front wheel is journaled. The'said front Wheel bracket 13 is.journaled to the front portion of the frame 9 for horizontaloscillatory steering movements and is provided with a short coupling bar14.

The frame 9 carries a box 15 preferably of heavy sheet metal, and thisbox is provided with a drop bottom shown as made up ofia pair of dropdoors 16 hinged at their outer edges to the sides of the frame 9, and attheir inner edges, adapted to be closed against a divider bar 17 thatextends centrally of the bottom ofthebox and is rigidly secured to theframework 9.

For directly operating the drop doors 16, cables, such as chains 18, areanchored at their rear ends to the back of the box 15, are passedthrough guide yokes 19 and under guide sheaves 20 carried by the freeedge portions of the said drop doors. The are brought and attachedjournaled in upward at the front of the box to a Windlass shaft 21 thatis end brackets 22 rigidly secured on the front plate of thebox 15. Aratchet wheel 23 is rigidly secured to the intermediate portion of theWindlass shaft 21, and of course, rotates therewith. For cooperationwith this ratchet wheel 23, I provide two levers 24 and 25. The lever24:, which is the main operating lever, is cated lower end 24; thatispivoted on the windlassshaft 21 and straddles the ratchet wheel 23. Adog 26 is intermediately pivoted to the'head 24 and is engageable withthe teeth of the ratchet wheel 23. The rear end of thisdog 26 has a slotand stud connection 27, with the lower end of an actu ating rod 28 thatworks through a lug 29 on A coiledspring 30 that surrounds the lower endof the rod 28" and is compressed between the lug 29 provided with abifur- Patented June 10, 1919.

dog 26 out of and the rear :end of the dog 26, exerts a force whichnormally yieldingly holds the engagement of the teeth of the ratchetwheel 23. At its upper end, the

dog actuating rod 28 is connected to a hand piece 31 that is pivotallyconnected to the upper end of the lever 24:. Mounted to slide on thelever 24c is an annular sleeve 32 that hasa'laterally projecting locklug 33 that is engageable with either of two notches 3 1,

3 1, of a latch segment 35 that is rigidly secured to and projectsforward from the front plate of the box 15. The intermediate portion ofthe and pin connection 36 with the pro]ect1ng lug of the lock sleeve 32,so that when the said rod is moved upward, the lug 33 will be raised outof engagement with the cooperating notch 34 or 345 as the case may be.

The lever 25 is pivotally connected by a pin-37 to a small bearingbracket 38 secured on the front plate of the box 15. The lower end ofthe said lever 25 has a bifurcated head 25 that is directly pivoted tothe said lug 38 by the pin 37, and this pin 37 pivotally connects to thesaid head 25, a retaining dog 39, which, in addition to the functionindicated, performs others which will hereinafter appear in thedescription of the operation. The lever 25 is adapted to be sprunglaterally, and thereby engaged with or disengaged from lock notches 40and 40 formed in a segmental lateral flange of the latch segment 35.

Operation.

When the lever 25 is engaged with the front notch 40, the upper portionof its bifurcated head 25 will engage the upper edge of the retainingdog 39, and thereby positively lock the said dog in full engagement witha tooth of'the ratchet wheel 23, as

shown in Fig. 3, and this, as is evident, will positively lock theWindlass shaft 21 against movement in either direction. this way, thedrop doors 16 of the box can be positively locked in their closedpositions so that there will be no danger of their being rattled orjarred open in traveling rough roads;

When said lever 25 is engaged with the rear notch 40", as, for example],shown in Fig. 7 its bifurcated head 25 will be so set that the retainingdog 39 will be free to rise "and. fall, thereby maintaining contact withthe teeth of the ratchet wheel 23, while permitting the said ratchetwheeltobe rotated in the direction of the arrow marked thereon in Fig. 7(which direction'of movement is that required to raise the drop doorsfrom closed to open positions) by manipulation of the main lever 24 andits dog 26. When the hand piece 31 of the said lever 24: is pressedforward, or against the upper end of. said lever, it first, by movingthe sleeve 32 up.-

actuating rod 28 has a slot 7 Hence, in

ward, -unlatches the said lever 2% from the Here, it is important tonotethat when the 7 lever 24 is in the position shown in Fig. 3, at whichtime the lug 33 ofthe sleeve, 32 is engaged with notch 34? of latchsegment 35,

the dog 26, which, bythe spring 30, is normally held out of engagementwith the teeth of latch wheel 23, is, neverthelem, so posi-j tioned thatits rear endwill'be engaged by the free end .of. the retaining dog '39,when the latter is raised by a rearward movement of lever 25.. Hence,when it isdesired to let the drop doors down by a step byjstep movement,or to drop the same only enough to permit a slow discharge of the dirtor gravel, or other material contained in the box, this can beaccomplished by setting the said levers, first, as shown in Fig, 3, andthen by moving the lever 25' from the position shown in said view, backto a position beyond notch 40, or to a position shown in Figs. 4 and 5'.ment of the retaining dog39, it is, itself, released from the pivotallyengaged tooth of latch wheel 23 and byforcing upward the rear end of thedog 26, causes the frontflend thereof, to engage the upper surfaceagainst a tooth of the ratchet wheel 23, as. shown in Fig. i, and thispermits the ratchet wheel, and hence, the Windlass shaft, to moveapproximately one tooth; When the steplof movement of the. ratchet wheeland Windlass r shaft 21 is intercepted by the dog 26,".the lever 25 ismoved forwardto permit the retannng dog 39 to again engagethe tooth ofUnder this'upward move- I r the ratchet wheel and to permit the spring 730 to disengage the said dog-26' from its piv- 11 0 otally engagedratchettooth. Thusby 0s cillating the lever 25 back and forth whilelever 24 is set, as shown in Figs. .3 and a, the

drop doors 16 may be lowered 'tof any desired extent and then "stoppedand ,held wherever desired, so that there will beat slow leakage ordischarge ofthje: material from 1 the boX of the truck: This is highlyim )ortant in doing certain kinds ofgrading work where it 1s desirabletodistrib'ute the gravel "or dirt along the road under:forwardgnove mentof the truck;

The term gate is herein nsed in a broad sense to include any kind .of adevice which,

when dropped or released, permits the (disa V charge .of the ,dirt orothermaterial from the box or carrying receptacle of the cart orvehicles .l 7

What I claim is:

1. An actuatin mechanism comprising a V Windlass having a ratchet wheel,a main lever having adog operative on said ratchet wheel, and anotherlever having. a dog nor mally operating as a retaining dog on saidratchet wheel, but operative, under movement of its lever, on the dog ofsaid main lever, to release said ratchet wheel by a step by stepescapement action.

2. An actuating mechanism comprising a Windlass having a ratchet wheel,a main lever having a yieldingly released dog and connection forrendering the same operative on said ratchet wheel, a retaining dognormally operative on said ratchet wheel and a lever operative toholdsaid retaining dog in an inoperative position, means. for lookingsaid main leverinto a position in which its dog will be oscillated toand from operative position by oscillation of said retaining dog and itsactuating lever.

3. An actuating mechanism comprising a Windlass having a ratchet wheel,a main lever having a yieldingly released dog and connection forrendering the same operative on said ratchet wheel, a retaining dognormally engageable with said ratchet wheel, a connection for releasingsaid retaining dog, a latch arch for said main lever, and a lock on saidmain lever normally engageable therewith but arranged to be released bymovement of the actuating connection of the dog of said main lever.

4. An actuating mechanism comprising a Windlass having a ratchet wheel,a main lever having a normally released dog movable for operation onsaid ratchet wheel, and a second lever having a dog normally operativeas a retaining dog on said ratchet wheel, the said main lever beingmovable into a position into which its dog may be subject to movementsof said retaining dog, and the said retaining dog, under movements ofsaid second lever, cooperating with the dog of said main lever torelease said ratchet wheel by a step by step escapement action.

An actuating mechanism comprising a Windlass having a ratchet wheel, amain lever having a normally released dog movable for operation on saidratchet wheel, a second lever having a dog normally operative as aretaining dog on said ratchet wheel, the said main lever being movableinto a position into which its dog may be subject to movements of saidretaining dog, and the said retaining dog, under movements of saidsecond lever, cooperating with the dog of said main lever to releasesaid ratchet wheel by a step by step escapement action, a latch V archfor the said main lever and a lock on said'main lever coiiperating withsaid latch arch to hold said main lever in either of two positions, inone of which positions its dog will be subject to movements of saidretaining dog, as above stated.

6. An actuating mechanism comprising a rotary member having a ratchetwheel, a main lever having a dog operating on said ratchet wheel, aretaining dog also operating on said ratchet wheel, and an operatingconnection for said retaining dog, having three positions, and operatingin one position to lock said dog engaged with said ratchet wheel, and ina second position to release said dog for a ratcheting action under theoperation of said main lever, and operative in a third position to holdsaid retaining dog positively out of action on said ratchet wheel.

7. An actuating mechanism comprising a Windlass having a ratchet wheel,a main lever having a normally released dog and connections forrendering the same operative on said ratchet wheel, at will, and aretaining dog cooperating with said ratchet wheel, and a second leverhaving a limited pivotal movement in respect to said retaining dog, andhaving three positions, being operative in one position to lock saidretaining dog in engagement with said ratchet wheel, in a secondposition to release said retaining dog for a ratcheting action, and in athird position to positively hold said retaining dog out of action onsaid ratchet wheel.

8. An actuating mechanism comprising a Windlass having a ratchet wheel,a main lever having a normally released dog and connections forrendering the same operative on said ratchet wheel, at will, and aretaining dog cooperating with said ratchet wheel, and a second leverhaving a limited pivotal movement in respect to said retaining dog, andhaving three positions, being operative in one position to lock saidretaining dog in engagement with said ratchet wheel, in a secondposition to release said retaining dog for a ratcheting action, and in athird position to positively hold saidretaining dog out of action onsaid ratchet wheel, and means for positively securing said latter leverin its said third position.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

4 SIDNEY L. LONG. Witnesses:

CLARA DEMAREST,

BERNICE G. WHEELER.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents,

. Washington, D. G.

